[MW Forums]

Apple's chief financial officer predicted strong sales for the upcoming Apple TV and iPhone products and an investment conference Tuesday. more

[MacTel]

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Apple TV will change the way people gather and purchase their digital content

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In the case of digital content, I believe it really is the Bluray and HD-DVD that are forcing people like myself to consider alternatives to optical discs. I have a modest sized library of movies on DVD and currently HD-DVD is the only path to keeping that library viable.
I believe Bluray-DVD hybrids are on the way but why even go that route? One area the Apple TV could excel at would be serving DVD movies. If Apple would at least allow DVDs to be streamed from a computers DVD drive then that would be compelling. On the other hand if Apple allowed the ripping of DVDs to the hard disk on the Apple TV for temporary access that would be even better. Both methods would satisfy the movie houses and the consumer - me! /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
I subscribe to Netflix's and if I got in 3 movies and ripped them to the Apple TV then chose when to watch them that would be neat. I wouldn't keep the content for long since I'd be constantly getting newer movies in to watch. Alas, Netflix doesn't contribute to Apple's bottom line and Netflix would go under by the sheer amount of DVDs I'd be requesting. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[richcon]

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I have a modest sized library of movies on DVD and currently HD-DVD is the only path to keeping that library viable.

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What does HD-DVD have that'll make your old DVD library stay viable? Both HD-DVD and Blu Ray are formats that won't play in regular DVD players, and both formats' players support playing DVDs (and, from what I hear, upscaling them to HD in decent-looking ways).
If you're talking about hybrid DVD/HD-DVD discs, I'm not so excited about those. They're made of one DVD layer and one HD-DVD layer and can play in either player Most high end DVDs and HD-DVDs are double-layer. In other words, you're only getting half the normal quality and features that you can fit on a DVD with half the same that can fit on an HD-DVD disc. If you want the best quality DVD, buy a single-format DVD. If you want the best quality HD-DVD, buy a single-format double-layer HD-DVD disc.
While you can buy a hybrid disc if you want to play it on your DVD player now and your HD-DVD player when you eventually buy one, you may be happier just continuing to buy DVDs until you decide which format you want to upgrade to.

[Ronald_Schoedel]

I once heard of a way to rip DVDs to iTunes-compatible formats, which would in turn be AppleTV compatible. The programs one might theoretically use to do this were something like Mac the Ripper and Handbrake. There might even be a quick tutorial about it located here.
This is all hypothetically speaking, of course.
VersionTracker is your friend.

[nmpike]

Apple is putting a lot of faith and resources into the AppleTV and the iPhone... I hope it is worth it.... I love Apple and typically do not like Microsoft... but being an XBOX 360 owner, I will say tat the 360 does WAY MORE than AppleTV, and the lower end XBOX 360 is the same price... if I had to pick between the 360 and the AppleTV, as much as I love Apple, the 360 would win....
What AppleTV is doing is nothing new.... the 360 has done it since it was released two years ago... in fact some might say Apple even copied Microsoft, because the 360 asks for the proverbial "code" just like AppleTV does. I even downloaded a patch for the 360 that lets the 360 play my iTunes music.
I have thousands of songs and probably about 60 movies in iTunes.... but I will not spend $299 on an AppleTV... if it was $199 I'd do it, but when u get to the $299 mark.... its the same as the 360... personally I would rather have the movies, music and GAMES.... the AppleTV will limit you to just the movies and music.
The iPhone is a whole other thing.... I'd be into the iPhone, but I will not use Cingular... their GSM band sux in comparison with CDMA, their calling plans suck compared to other carriers (Alltel and Sprint).... Spring is CDMA, and Sprint has the largest most powerful data network in the country. If iPhone supports CDMA, count me in, but as long as it forces me to Cingular as a carrier, forget it... I won't do it.
I don't know if I am considered an average Apple consumer... when I did my 2006 taxes I gave Apple over $14,000 last year between laptops, ipods and workstations... so I am pretty liberal when it comes to Apple spending... but the AppleTV and iPhone aren't on my list of "must haves".
mike

[MGP]

Like many others I use Netflix, because quite frankly I don't care to own very many movies. THere are very few I would watch a 2nd time and even then probably years later. I have purchased 2 movies from iTunes for my kids, but none for me. If Apple/iTunes were to offer movie rentals for $2 a pop I would be all over that AND I would buy an Apple TV. But for now I would rather just stick with my Core2 Macmini connected to my tv/sound system. On demand rentals are the sweet deal. Please, Steve, just do it.

[tallscot]

In the case of digital content, I believe it really is the Bluray and HD-DVD that are forcing people like myself to consider alternatives to optical discs. I have a modest sized library of movies on DVD and currently HD-DVD is the only path to keeping that library viable.
There is already at least one player that does both Blue-ray and HD-DVD.

[tallscot]

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Apple is putting a lot of faith and resources into the AppleTV and the iPhone... I hope it is worth it.... I love Apple and typically do not like Microsoft... but being an XBOX 360 owner, I will say tat the 360 does WAY MORE than AppleTV, and the lower end XBOX 360 is the same price... if I had to pick between the 360 and the AppleTV, as much as I love Apple, the 360 would win....
What AppleTV is doing is nothing new.... the 360 has done it since it was released two years ago... in fact some might say Apple even copied Microsoft, because the 360 asks for the proverbial "code" just like AppleTV does. I even downloaded a patch for the 360 that lets the 360 play my iTunes music.
I have thousands of songs and probably about 60 movies in iTunes.... but I will not spend $299 on an AppleTV... if it was $199 I'd do it, but when u get to the $299 mark.... its the same as the 360... personally I would rather have the movies, music and GAMES.... the AppleTV will limit you to just the movies and music.
The iPhone is a whole other thing.... I'd be into the iPhone, but I will not use Cingular... their GSM band sux in comparison with CDMA, their calling plans suck compared to other carriers (Alltel and Sprint).... Spring is CDMA, and Sprint has the largest most powerful data network in the country. If iPhone supports CDMA, count me in, but as long as it forces me to Cingular as a carrier, forget it... I won't do it.
I don't know if I am considered an average Apple consumer... when I did my 2006 taxes I gave Apple over $14,000 last year between laptops, ipods and workstations... so I am pretty liberal when it comes to Apple spending... but the AppleTV and iPhone aren't on my list of "must haves".
mike

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Yeah, don't you love it when Apple says one of their products is going to change the way people do things when people have already been doing it for years?
Apple TV is a media extender with a hard drive. Media extenders have been out by various companies for years. There have been movie stores for years where Windows Media Center customers could buy movies and stream them to their TV's media extender.
As you point out, the Xbox 360 is a media extender. But unlike Apple TV, the Xbox 360 lets you browse the Xbox Live movie store from your 360 and download movies to your 360, all from your couch. And the 360's store has HD movies already. When will iTMS? It's obviously coming, otherwise Apple wouldn't include HDMI in the Apple TV.
The problem with the 360 is the hard drive is too small and you can't just pull it out and put in a 200 gig drive like you can with the PS3. We have to wait for Microsoft to offer us an Xbox hard drive upgrade, which will, no doubt, be expensive. But you only need the hard drive for shows you purchase and download from the Xbox Live store. You can stream all day long with the Xbox that doesn't have an hard drive or the one with a hard drive.
The only thing Apple TV has over any other device, IMHO, is it plays Fairplay. This is exactly why Apple doesn't want to license Fairplay. If you buy content from iTMS, you won't be able to play it on an Xbox 360 - period. You will only be able to play it on Apple TV. Apple keeps you on their hardware by holding on to their DRM.
Since I buy my music on CD, my movies on DVD (or rent), and I don't buy TV shows, I have no reason to spend $299 on Apple TV. Like you said, I'd rather spend that on a 360, or a PS3 once that works with the Mac (if it doesn't already).
Here's the OS X utility that lets you stream media from OS X to an Xbox 360:
http://www.nullriver...ucts/connect360

[nmpike]

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Here's the OS X utility that lets you stream media from OS X to an Xbox 360:
http://www.nullriver...ucts/connect360

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WOW!!! I didn't even know about this software!!!! This is exactly what I have been looking for!!! Thanks for the link! There is no way in hell I will be getting an AppleTV now /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
On the HD issue with the 360, I agree with you... I even tried to hook up an external USB hard drive (Western Digital)... and here is the kicker, the 360 recognizes it but does not allow me to use it! It would be nice if someone could write a quick and dirty patch to allow the 360 to use external regular drives...
Man thanks again on the link! You have saved me and other 360 owners / Mac Lovers thousands of dollars! /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
mike

[doglesby]

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Apple has set a goal of selling 10 million phones, or 1 percent of the number of mobile phones sold around the world last year, by 2008.

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In 2008, not by 2008.
A lot of you guys are missing the point. Oppenheimer is referring to Apple TV and the iPhone as platforms. Sales of the Apple TV aren't going to be that big in the context of Apple's entire business. But they will enable other parts of Apple's strategy. Talk up the Xbox 360 all you want, the Apple TV is a platform that is much more likely to go in a direction that suits me.

[doglesby]

Like ellipses much?
Perhaps you made a mistake. The Apple TV provides the code, it doesn't ask for it. I don't know how the 360 works; I'm about as interested in that as I am in the PS 3, which is less than I am in the Wi, which is not enough to even know the price.
<sarcasm>You've got a point, I can't tell you how many times I hear people complaining about GSM networks. They're all like, "If only I weren't locked into a contract, I would totally move to a CDMA provider like Sprint."</sarcasm>

[tallscot]

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Quote:

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Here's the OS X utility that lets you stream media from OS X to an Xbox 360:
http://www.nullriver...ucts/connect360

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WOW!!! I didn't even know about this software!!!! This is exactly what I have been looking for!!! Thanks for the link! There is no way in hell I will be getting an AppleTV now /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
On the HD issue with the 360, I agree with you... I even tried to hook up an external USB hard drive (Western Digital)... and here is the kicker, the 360 recognizes it but does not allow me to use it! It would be nice if someone could write a quick and dirty patch to allow the 360 to use external regular drives...
Man thanks again on the link! You have saved me and other 360 owners / Mac Lovers thousands of dollars! /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
mike

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No problem! /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[MacTel]

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Both HD-DVD and Blu Ray are formats that won't play in regular DVD players, and both formats' players support playing DVDs (and, from what I hear, upscaling them to HD in decent-looking ways).

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[/indent]
My bad, they do both play DVDs. Long ago and far away, I read Bluray players weren't going to support legacy DVDs. Obviously that was incorrect.
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If you're talking about hybrid DVD/HD-DVD discs, I'm not so excited about those. They're made of one DVD layer and one HD-DVD layer and can play in either player Most high end DVDs and HD-DVDs are double-layer. In other words, you're only getting half the normal quality and features that you can fit on a DVD with half the same that can fit on an HD-DVD disc. If you want the best quality DVD, buy a single-format DVD. If you want the best quality HD-DVD, buy a single-format double-layer HD-DVD disc.

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[/indent]
No hybrids for me. IMO, there's really no point for that. I just what to some day have an optical disc free environment without losing my prior investment. Which may not be legally possible.

[deasys]

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the 360 does WAY MORE than AppleTV, and the lower end XBOX 360 is the same price

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[/indent]
The lower end Xbox 360 does not do what the Apple TV does.
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I even downloaded a patch for the 360 that lets the 360 play my iTunes music.

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[/indent]
Does it let you play songs you purchased from the iTS? Does it give you access to playlists and cover art? Can you access shared libraries? How about podcasts and video podcasts? Audiobooks?
I'm guessing the answers are "no"...
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if it was $199 I'd do it, but when u get to the $299 mark.... its the same as the 360

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[/indent]
The "same as the 360?" Does the $299 Xbox 360 include a hard drive and a wireless controller? How about native connectivity to Macs?
On the other hand, the Xbox does include a big, ugly case and a noisy fan. So nice in the family room...
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I would rather have the movies, music and GAMES.... the AppleTV will limit you to just the movies and music

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[/indent]
Apparently, Apple TV has built-in provision for games.